LTB 

343 

Cee 


UC-NRLF 


in 
o 


SELECTIVE 

SERVICE 

SYSTEM 


ITS  AIMS  and 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 
ITS  FUTURE 


WASHINGTON    :    GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE    :    1917 


REPLACING 


TO  THE 

LOCAL  AND  DISTRICT  BOARDS. 

LAST  July  we  were  confronted  with  the  necessity  of 
placing  687,000  recruits  in  mobilization  camps 
just  as  fast  as  the  factories  of  the  country  could  furnish 
uniforms  and  arms  and  the  building  enterprises  of  the 
nation  could  erect  the  16  great  cantonments  to  receive 
them.  The  time  limit  was  clearly  defined.  The  neces- 
sity was  pressing.  We  were  committed  to  the  principle 
of  selection.  The  field  of  selection  comprised  nearly 
10,000,000  men.  Unquestionably,  of  these  10,000,000 
there  were  some  particular  687,000  of  them  whose  tak- 
ing would  least  interfere  with  the  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic life  of  the  nation.  But,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things  they  could  only  have  been  searched  out  by  exam- 
ining the  whole  10,000,000. 

There  were  two  ways  to  do  this.  One  was  to  make  a 
graduated  classification  of  men  placing  in  the  first  class 
those  who,  of  the  whole  10,000,000  could  best  be  spared, 
in  the  second  class  those  who  could  next  be  spared,  and 
so  forth  through  all  the  classes.  Another  way  was  to 
make  only  two  classes,  but  to  so  liberalize  exemptions  from 
the  first  class  as  to  make  it  comprise  only  about  687,000 
men.  Both  methods  required  more  time  than  we  had  at 
our  disposal,  for  we  were  warned  that  at  about  this  time 
of  the  year  the  camps  would  be  ready  to  receive,  arm,  and 
equip  the  first  draft.  It  was  very  apparent  that  under 

24337°— 17  (3) 

M156959 


Page    four 

no  new  and  untried  system  could  10,000,000  men  be  ex- 
amined in  such  a  short  time.  In  this  state  of  affairs  there 
was  but  one  thing  to  do  and  that  thing  we  did.  We  es- 
tablished rules  for  exemption  restrictive  enough  to  permit 
us  to  produce  687,000  selectives  in  10  weeks'  time  and 
yet  liberal  enough  to  protect  industries,  farms,  govern- 
mental organizations,  and  families  from  any  very  great 
hardship. 

Moving  breathlessly,  supported  by  the  governors  of 
the  States  and  by  the  members  of  our  selection  boards 
with  a  patriotism,  devotion,  and  unselfish  zeal  that 
remains  an  inspiration  to  the  Nation,  we  have  accom- 
plished our  purpose  within  the  time  limits  at  our  disposal. 

We  are  in  this  war  to  attain  victory.  We  have  taken 
one  great  step,  but  it  is  only  one  step.  As  our  military 
need  for  men  grows  so  will  our  industrial  need  for  labor 
grow.  We  have  hacked  the  first  increment  of  our  armies 
out  with  a  broadax  because  there  was  time  for  no  greater 
refinement.  We  must  pare  future  increments  away  with 
greater  discrimination.  The  selective  principle  must  be 
carried  to  its  logical  conclusion  and  we  must  meet  Prus- 
sian efficiency  with  a  greater  American  effectiveness. 
We  must  consider  the  circumstances  of  all  registrants. 
We  must  arrange  them  in  the  order  in  which  they  can  be 
taken  with  the  least  disturbance  and  thus  place  behind 
our  battle  lines  sources  of  recruitment  that  will  furnish 
men  as  they  are  needed.  This  means  a  segregation  of 
registrants  in  classes  arranged  in  the  order  of  their 
availability  for  military  service. 

Scientifically  the  greater  the  number  of  classes  the  less 

would  be  the  disturbance  to  our  economic  life.     Practi- 

t 

cally  and  after  an  exhaustive  study  of  our  experience,  we 


f a g e    jive 

find  that  the  circumstances  of  registrants  cause  them  to 
fall  quite  naturally  into  five  classes. 

By  the  great  drawing  in  Washington  the  order  of  avail- 
ability for  all  men  whose  circumstances  were  equal  was 
determined.  We  shall  not  disturb  this  order  unless  some 
great  need  of  the  Nation  requires  it.  We  shall  make  four 
classes  of  temporary  and  contingent  discharges,  but  within 
each  class  (including  the  class  of  those  immediately  avail- 
able) men  shall  stand  in  the  order  determined  by  the 
drawing. 

The  unit  for  classification  is  the  jurisdiction  of  a  local 
board.  The  first  class  in  any  jurisdiction  will  meet  all 
calls  until  it  is  exhausted,  whereupon  the  second  class 
becomes  available. 

You  have  before  you  a  sheet  showing  the  classifica- 
tion that  must  be  accomplished.  Without  permitting 
yourselves,  for  the  moment,  to  be  appalled  by  the  magni- 
tude of  the  task,  I  ask  you  to  suppose  that  the  10,000,000 
registrants  in  the  United  States  have  been  segregated  into 
these  five  classes.  In  CLASS  I  we  shall  then  have,  in  every 
community,  immediately  available  for  military  service 
single  men  and  a  few  married  men  whose  removal  will  not 
disturb  the  reasonably  adequate  support  of  their  depend- 
ents. In  the  industrial  and  agricultural  aspect,  we  shall 
have  segregated  into  this  class,  men  who  have  not  espe- 
cially fitted  themselves  for  industrial  or  agricultural  pur- 
suits so  that  our  only  incursion  into  the  labor  supply  will 
affect  but  a  small  percentage  of  unskilled  labor. 

In  CLASS  II  we  find  men  who  can  be  taken  without 
disturbing  the  support  of  any  dependent  and,  as  I  shall 
presently  show  you,  if  the  necessity  of  drawing  on  CLASS  II 
arrives,  we  must  demand  even  from  agriculture  and 


rage     six 

industry  an  adjustment  to  replace  a  small  percentage  of 
skilled  labor  affected  by  the  draft — men  who,  while 
occupying  no  pivotal  or  important  position,  can  serve 
industry  or  agriculture  better  than  unskilled  men. 

Should  the  pinch  of  military  necessity  increase  beyond 
CI/ASS  II,  it  would  mean  that  the  Nation  would  have  to 
begin  to  commit  itself  to  hardship  and  to  an  adjustment 
in  agriculture  and  industry  to  meet  the  paramount  neces- 
sity. v  We  take  in  CLASS  III  a  very  small  class  of  persons 
upon  whom  others  are  dependent  for  support,  but  we  do 
not  break  up  the  closest  and  most  sacred  of  the  family 
relationships.  We  also  invade  the  field  of  agriculture  and 
industry  to  the  extent  of  taking,  in  the  small  percentage 
affected,  men  who  have  specialized  themselves  or  who 
occupy  rather  pivotal  positions.. 

In  CLASS  IV  we  find  the  men  whom  we  shall  take  as  a 
last  resort.  Before  that  class  is  reached  it  is  perfectly 
safe  to  say  that  by  the  addition  of  other  classes  as  to  age, 
say  those  who  have  attained  2 1  since  registration  day  and 
perhaps  adding  the  classes  of  18  and  19  and  20  years'  old, 
men,  we  shall  have  included  two  or  three  million  men  in 
our  available  list,  and  thus  have  saved  CLASS  IV. 

CLASS  V  comprises  the  field  of  absolute  exempts. 

There  is  ,one  thought  that  'I  must  impress  to  eradicate 
an  erroneous  view  that  may  be  taken  of  this  classification : 

We  are  dealing  in  the  field  of  labor  supply.  Presuming 
that  the  labor  supply  of  industry  and  agriculture  com- 
prises men  between  the  ages  of  18  and  50,  and  assuming, 
for  the  purpose  of  this  exposition,  that  there  are  i  ,000,000 
men  of  each  of  these  ages,  we  are  dealing  with  32  classes, 
appurtenant  to  agriculture  and  to  the  various  industries. 
The  draft  affects  ten-thirty  seconds  of  this  supply  or  only 


Page     seven 

about 3 1  percent.  Therefore,  turning  to  CLASS  II,  when 
we  find  skilled  farm  labor  listed  there,  it  does  not  mean 
that  when  CLASS  II  is  exhausted  all  skilled  farm  laborers 
will  have  been  taken.  From  these  figures,  it  would  seem 
to  mean  that  3 1  per  cent  of  all  skilled  farm  labor  will  have 
been  taken.  But  even  this  figure  is  misleading.  Without 
the  definite  statistics  that  the  present  draft  will  eventually 
afford  I  can  say,  I  think,  that  within  this  class  of  skilled 
laborers  at  least  62  per  cent  of  those  liable  to  draft  will  be 
found  in  classes  more  deferred  than  CLASS  II  by  reason  of 
dependents,  alienage,  and  the  like.  The  result  is  that 
when  we  have  exhausted  CLASS  II,  we  shall  have  taken 
only  12  per  cent  of  the  skilled  -?  labor  appurtenant  to 
agriculture.  The  same  figures  apply/, to  other  industries. 
To  raise  an  Army  comprising  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men  necessitates  an  inroad  into  the  man  power  of  the 
Nation.  We  are  committed  to  this  war  and  we  ought 
to  fight  it  in  the  most  effective  fashion  possible  to  us. 
The  necessity  of  raising  an  Army  is  paramount.  The 
decrease  in  labor  supply  must  be  adjusted  in  some  way 
other  than  by  shutting  off  recruitment.  That  it  can  be 
adjusted  there  is  no  question.  We  see  what  England 
has  done,  what  France  has  done,  and  most  of  all  what 
Germany  has  done.  The  ,problem  is  not  to  maintain 
the  labor  supply  of  agriculture  and  of  every  industry 
intact.  It  is  to  make  the  withdrawal  of  men  in  the  most 
scientific  manner  possible.  I  think  we  have  done  that, 
and  that  what  is  offered  here  is  the  basis  for  a  nice  balance 
between  our  two  necessities.  I  feel  that  we  can  go  no 
further.  There  are  those  who  say  that  we  must  win  this 
war  in  the  economic  field,  with  an  inference  that  the  raising 
of  an  Army  is  a  side  issue.  I  say  to  you  that  with  any 


Page     eight 

greater  inroads  into  the  field  of  recruitment  of  our  Army, 
we  shall  be  sending  inferior  men  to  the  field.  That,  if 
this  Nation  is  not  competent  to  make  the  slight  adjust- 
ment necessary  to  compensate  for  this  scientific  selection, 
then  it  is  not  competent  to  enter  this  war.  A  vast 
production  in  our  farms  and  factories  is  necessary.  It  is 
necessary  in  order  to  support  military  operations  on  the 
field  of  battle.  But  certainly  no  man  can  urge  in  this  day 
of  trial  and  sacrifice  that  this  Nation  should  deliberately 
neglect  to  make  itself  effective  in  the  field  of  military 
operation  on  the  plea  that  our  greatest  contribution  to 
the  cause  of  humanity  is  in  attaining  an  economic  su- 
premacy. To  do  so  would  be  to  relegate  the  United  States 
to  the  role  of  sutler  of  the  fighting  nations.  We  shall, 
of  course,  increase  our  production.  We  shall  become 
more  and  more  effective  as  a  Nation  and  we  shall  supply 
our  new  armies  and  do  all  that  can  be  expected  of  us  to 
supply  the  armies  of  our  allies.  But  we  shall  not,  under 
that  guise,  confine  our  participation  in  this  conflict  to  the 
baking  of  bread  and  the  sharpening  of  the  swords  of  other 
men.  This  war  will  be  won  militarily  on  the  devoted 
field  of  France.  Doubtless  it  will  be  won  by  the  side 
which  is  able  to  place  behind  its  army  the  prevailing 
ounce  of  provision.  But  the  blow  that  shatters  the 
German  line  and  extinguishes  autocracy  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  will  be  the  blow  of  man's  right  arm  and  not 
the  insidious  stroke  of  a  shrewd  trader. 

Our  Selection  Boards  have  done  a  great  thing  for  this 
Nation,  but  they  must  do  a  greater  thing.  The  task 
accomplished  is  scarcely  one-tenth  the  importance  of 
the  task  which  remains  before  you.  For  this  great  work 
there  stands  here  a  national  system,  called  into  being 


V 
Page     n  in  t 

three  months  ago  and  erected  almost  like  Aladdin's  palace, 
in  a  night.  There  are  nearly  15,000  members  of  local 
and  district  boards.  With  their  assistants  there  are 
considerably  over  twice  that  number  of  persons  engaged — 
a  greater  numerical  force  than  is  contained  in  a  combatant 
division  of  soldiers.  They  are  pioneers.  They  have 
blazed  their  own  path.  They  are  trained  in  the  work  and 
familiar  with  the  law.  They  have  become  an  essential 
and  highly  specialized  and  important  part  of  the  war 
organization  of  this  Nation.  The  Selective  Service  Sys- 
tem is  as  essential  to  that  organization  as  is  the  Army 
which  it  produces.  It  is  the  balance  between  the  mili- 
tary and  the  industrial  need  of  the  Nation  and  stands  as 
a  source  of  supply  to  one  and  a  shield  of  protection  to  the 
other.  It  can  not  be  replaced.  Any  break  in  its  ranks 
would  be  an  act  of  even  greater  harm  to  the  Nation  than 
accrues  when  a  soldier  abandons  his  regiment  or  a  sailor 
his  ship.  It  would  be  as  inexcusable  to  dismiss,  disrupt, 
or  replace  this  organization  as  to  attempt  to  replace  or 
dismiss  a  division  on  the  field  of  France.  Most  of  you 
are  without  the  military  age  yet  you  may  canvas  the  field 
of  all  that  you  could  have  done  to  serve  you  country 
outside  of  the  fighting  forces  and  you  will  find  no  more 
valuable  thing  than  what  you  are  doing. 

The  examination  of  the  first  2,500,000  registrants  has 
taken  you  from  your  occupations  and  the  winning  of  your 
daily  bread.  No  one  knows  better  than  I  the  burdens 
you  have  borne  under  our  new  and  necessarily  crude 
system. 

As  we  built  and  bolstered  during  the  early  organ- 
izational period  I  would  shudder  whenever  necessity 
demanded  that  I  send  out  to  the  overburdened  boards 


Page     ten 

new  rulings,  amendments,  orders,  and  yet  it  became 
clearer  and  clearer  that  we  must  retain  the  services  of 
all  for  this  new  and  greater  task. 

The  conclusion  was  overwhelming.  The  whole  system 
must  be  revised  in  the  light  of  our  experience.  The  bur- 
dens must  be  made  bearable — the  lives  of  members  of 
Selection  Boards  livable.  I  called  some  members  of 
boards  from  various  parts  of  the  country  to  Washington 
and  went  carefully  over  the  situation.  We  evolved  a  new 
plan  for  the  process  of  selection. 

This  brings  me  to  the  most  pleasurable  part  of  the 
message  I  have  for  you.  With  all  the  urgency  of  your 
country's  call  upon  you,  I  feel  that  if  I  could  not  come 
here  with  a  promise  of  your  deliverance  from  the  over- 
whelming demands  we  have  made  upon  you,  I  should 
hesitate  to  ask  you  to  continue,  but  I  think  I  can  demon- 
strate in  a  few  words  that  we  have  removed  the  burden 
that  you  have  hitherto  borne. 

In  the  new  plan  182  forms  which  served  to  bewilder 
both  you  and  the  registrants  and  to  increase  your  work 
have  been  abolished.  Their  place  has  been  taken  by  19 
which  you  will  be  called  upon  to  use.  Even  this  state- 
ment gives  no  idea  of  the  reduction  of  clerical  labor  that 
has  been  accomplished.  For  the  use  of  registrants  there 
is  a  single  form,  a  Questionnaire.  The  registrant  is  called 
upon  to  answer  a  series  of  questions  that  searches  his  entire 
industrial,  economic,  and  family  relation.  Bach  set  of 
questions  is  integrated  with  the  claim  of  classification  to 
which  it  pertains.  On  the  face  of  the  Questionnaire  is  a 
summary  of  its  contents  that  almost  compels  the  con- 
clusion to  be  drawn  from  it. 


Page     eleven 

The  scope  of  your  labor  will  be  reduced  to  a  decision 
of  facts  which  will  be  presented  for  your  consideration 
without  a  great  searching  of  papers  and  sifting  of  obscure 
and  unsatisfactory  affidavits.  The  Questionnaire  practi- 
cally classifies  itself.  In  my  opinion  your  task  was  ren- 
dered burdensome  and  exhausting  by  a  vast  necessity  for 
doing  purely  mechanical  and  clerical  work.  We  have 
obviated  this.  The  burdensome  clerical  part  of  your 
task  is  absolutely  removed  from  your  shoulders. 

The  new  method  of  making  physical  examinations  is 
another  labor  saver.  Only  those  persons  immediately 
needed,  classified  in  CLASS  I,  are  to  be  physically  examined 
now.  Others  are  to  be  physically  examined  only  when 
the  classes  preceding  the  one  in  which  they  have  been 
placed  is  exhausted.  There  is  no  double  physical  exami- 
nation before  the  L,ocal  Board.  If  the  examining  physi- 
cian rejects  the  registrant,  or,  if  the  registrant  is  not 
satisfied,  or,  if  the  examining  physician  is  in  doubt,  the 
registrant  is  to  be  sent  before  a  medical  advisory  board 
reasonably  convenient  to  each  local  board  and  composed 
of  about  seven  specialists  who  will  conduct  an  exhaus- 
tive reexamination,  of  the  results  of  which  there  need  be 
little  doubt.  There  is  also  to  be  established  in  each 
locality,  a  Legal  Advisory  Board  comprising  practically 
all  th'ie  lawyers  in  the  community,  and  this  society  is  to 
furnish  without  compensation  all  information  and  advice 
that  registrants  may  require.  Local  Boards  should  refer 
all  requests  for  information  and  for  assistance  in  prepar- 
ing Questionnaires  to  these  associations.  This,  I  hope, 
will  relieve  one  of  the  most  tedious  functions  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  boards. 


Page    twelve 

I  have  consulted  a  considerable  number  of  members  of 
Selection  Boards  who  advised  me  in  the  preparation  of 
the  new  regulations.  It  is  the  estimate  of  all  of  them 
that  the  present  method  will  reduce  the  work  of  mem- 
bers of  boards  by  70  per  cent.  In  this  state  of  affairs, 
it  is  hoped  that  members  of  boards  can  attend  to  this 
most  important  duty  without  making  too  great  an  inroad 
upon  the  time  necessary  for  them  to  attend  their  respec- 
tive callings. 

As  I  have  said,  the  Selective  Service  System  is  an 
integral  and  necessary  part  of  this  Government,  and  you, 
as  members  of  it,  are  as  essential  in  the  places  to  which 
it  has  best  served  the  common  good  to  call  upon  you  as 
are  the  soldiers  whom  you  have  sent  to  camp.  You  are, 
in  effect,  a  part  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States  in  that 
you  are  the  sources  of  its  supply.  The  Nation  is  rapidly 
becoming  a  great  system,  and  if  this  part  of  it  were  dis- 
turbed now  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  that  system 
would  be  shattered  so  effectively  that  it  would  take 
weeks,  if  not  months,  to  repair  the  damage.  That,  I 
think,  is  too  clear  to  require  further  exposition.  But 
there  is  a  further  thought  that  has  not  yet  been  empha- 
sized. 

We,  as  a  Nation,  have  learned  much  in  the  last  few 
months.  We  have,  in  the  words  of  the  President, 
"  drawn  close  in  one  compact  front  against  a  common 
foe"  and  we  have  found  ourselves.  We  have  learned  the 
sacrifice  that  must  be  made  to  make  our  Nation  safe 
from  aggression.  The  duty  of  citizenship  has  taken  on  a 
new  light  for  all  of  us  and  there  has  been  no  hesitation 
among  our  people  in  performing  that  duty.  Whether 
Germany  has  taught  us  or  whether  we  have  learned  it 


Page     thirteen 

ourselves,  we  know  one  thing  so  clearly  and  so  well  that- 
we  will  never  again  have  doubt  of  it.  The  volunteer 
method  of  raising  an  army  for  war  is  gone.  It  will  never 
return.  The  principle  of  selection  has  been  tried  and 
proved  by  our  people.  I  am  led  to  believe  that  they 
approve  it  with  substantial  unanimity.  If  it  is  good  for 
this  time  of  peril,  it  is  good  for  all  future  emergencies. 
The  wonder  is  that  a  people  so  devoted  to  business  effici- 
ency should  have  hesitated  to  adopt  it.  It  is  of  the 
essence  of  democracy  and  national  effectiveness.  The 
present  method  for  its  expression  integrates  with  our 
political  system  so  perfectly,  responds  so  smoothly  and  so 
well  to  our  dual  form  of  State  and  National  control  that 
it  would  be  calamitous  to  have  it  impaired.  The  prin- 
ciple of  selection  is  established.  The  system  for  selection 
improved  as  we  can  improve  it  must  become, and  remain 
a  permanent  part  of  our  governmental  system  for  war. 
It  is  a  link  which  binds  closer  our  Union  of  States  and  our 
resulting  General  Government.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
I  say  that  we  are  standing  not  at  the  portals  of  a  past  but 
rather  at  the  threshold  of  a  future. 


t  *  i. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWE 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  r. 


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